The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1887-02-16

middle. / cannot say why the axle broke.
Weight of rails is sixty pounds to yard,
and but few roads use rails heavier; the en-
CINE is of forty-fve tons without tender.
which weighs from thirty to thirty-two tons
White River Junction Is the point where
all cars are inspected they are next inspected
at Mortified, fifty-three miles from here
then at St. Albans-below here at Windsor
and Bellows Falls. ] think the common
practice Of examining wheels by humping
them is almost wholly useless because OF
the materials the thump does not test the
axles. they being in two separate parts, but
the latter are inspected by man going under
the car"
SUPERINTENDENT JOHN MULLrGAN of the
Connecticut River railroad testified that
after examination he made up his mind that
the axle was broken first; don't know the
cause; wheel tore out the first part of the
rail- and by that cause all cars were drawn
on by this car when the bridge was reached;
the mark on the axle was made before the
axle was broken. Attention being called to
marx which might be defect in the
broken rail itself witness said: In my esti-
nation this defect in the rail was very
slight, had no part in causing the accident
superintendent George Todd of the north
ern division of the Boston & Lowell and
James p Gordon master mechanic of the
Concord railroad, corroborated the views of
Superintendent Mullgan These three wit
nesses asserted that thus far no system of
heating cars has been discovered that is
open to less criticism than the present svs-
TEN, but in their judgment a better system
would come. Mr.. Gordon could not detect
any bending of axle at the point of the
break, but it often happened that a broken
axle was the result of a hidden internal de-
feet.
THE commissioners went to the scene of
| the wreck and made a thorough inspection
! Engineer Pierce got upon the engine and
| personally explained to the commissioners
| the workings of the air-brake and pointed
out the exact points where the brakes were
applied and let off in approaching the bridge
that night. Every foot of the road-bed from
the first broken rail was then examined and
every mark upon the ties. The first fact
ascertailfed was that the exact place where
the first rail broke was upon wide tie and
not between two ties The remainder of
| the investigation was of the marks upon the
ties made by the derailed wheels. The in
vestigation was continued at Pease's Hotel,
! Hartford, the commissioners visiting such of
the injured whose testimony would throw
further light on causes and effects of the acct
dent The testimony given was all important
and concise on points the commissioners
wanted On Thursday the commissioners
voted to suspend further examination of
witnesses until the afternoon of Monday,
February IA, at which time, if deemed neces-
sary, further testimony would be taken.
In DIR. A. p. Grinnel's testimony he said:
None of the patients have been left alone
a moment since rescued. / have to say that
we have been supplied with everything
necessary in the way of medicines, band
ages, and in fact, every facility by the rail-
road. Those few of the dead who have been
identified showed evidence of having been
killed Immediately, for every one of them
had fractured skulls. I may say that there
were none, living or dead, adult or child,
who did not have some injury to the head.
There of sutfOpatiOn that
could swear to. will say, for the consola-
ton of friends of the deceased, that, in my
opinion, there was not a single person
burned alive, in the common acceptance of
the words They died by suffocation I'M
doubtedly, if they were not killed outright,
before the fire reached them.
PROFESSOR FLETCHER of Dartmouth Col
lege has been quoted as saying that the rails
at the point of the accident were defective.
This is contradicted by his testimony given
last Wednesday afternoon. He testified to
having examined several pieces of rails
found near the wreck, but did not try to fit
them to the broken rail, to see if they be-
longed to it, and did not know that they
were parts of the same rail. He found
structural defects in them such as could not
have been discovered by the railroad men
He also saw the broken axle but saw moth
ing on which to base any theory there.
CASHIER c. c. DoMETT, cashier of the
Maverick Bank, Boston, who was reported
dead, stated that after the accident occurred
he found himself covered by a mass of
blankets, wreckage, etc, and had but little
room; he saw light only about as big as an
egg and kicked "a hole through and got air;
he was almost suffocated. A lady in the
next berth was also almost suffocated; he
broke the partition and supplied her air;
she was also contied and held fast by a mass
of things. A man with an axe came along
and broke hole through and she succeeded
in getting out.
THE railroad commissioners continued the
hearing Monday and Tuesday. Several wit
nesses We're examined, but no new points of
particular Importance were elected.
NOTES
IT was reported Tuesday that only five
bodies remained unidentified.
WITH one or two exceptions the injured
are all doing well, and several have gone to
their homes.
THE conductor and the porter of the pal
ace car " Pilgrim" killed at Hartford, had
each a 81 900 accident insurance policy in
the Travellers.
THE officials of the Central Vermont road
deny that they have taken undue or prema-
ture measures to effect a settlement or COM
promise with the injured survivors concern
| ing damages.
Mr.. j. ID. DENNIsoN, who is in charge of
| the articles recovered from the wreck, is
| making out Il complete inventory u SuCu
articles and personal property as has been
up to this time found on or near the bodies
! of the dead, or such as were lost by survi-
vors that have not been called for
AN official of the Central Vermont road
who is said to have made settlements with
injured persons, acknowledged that he had
paid certain parties, but denied that he had
used undue influence in doing So He
stated that he had given them every dollar
they asked for, and that all insinuations to
the contrary We're base lies.
THERE were two or three bumptous re-
porters at the Junction and the scene of the
accident who made themselves offensive to
all with whom they came in contact, and
made use of every rumor and idle tale to fill
out their sensational reports. On two or
three. occasions they were deservedly
snubbed and took their revenge by abusing
the railroad officials.
THE railroad managers say the expense of
caring for the dead and injured, clearing the
wreck, erecting new trestle-bridge, repac-
ing the burned cars and substituting an iron
bridge for the one destroyed will aggregate
not more than fifty thousand dollars. They
denounce the report that the injured passen-
gers were forced to settle for personal dam
ages as malicious and untrue.
A CABLE dispatch says that all the London
papers devoted a column to comments on
the Central Vermont railway accident.
Some recalled the Versailles railway catas-
/ r - - ATnrr rhAR in ttx-